Cornwall thrashed at Rochdale in League One opener

The loss was Cornwall's second at Rochdale in as many months after a 64-12 defeat in the 1895 Cup

Cornwall suffered their third heavy defeat in three games this season as they conceded 13 tries in a 68-0 loss at Rochdale in their opening League One game of the 2025 season.

Having lost 52-0 to North Wales Crusaders in the Challenge Cup and 64-12 to Rochdale in the 1895 Cup, Cornwall had waited more than a month to return to action.

They put in a decent first-half showing as the hosts scored three tries in an 11-minute spell, with Myles Dalton-Harrop, Lameck Juma and Lewis Else crossing to make it 16-0 at the break.

But the hosts collapsed after the interval - Luke Forber scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half on the way to a hat-trick, while Juma also scored two more tries.

Dan Nixon also claimed a hat-trick as Max Flanagan and Duane Straugheir added to Rochdale's tally of 10 second-half scores.

The loss leaves Cornwall bottom of the table ahead of their home fixture with Newcastle Thunder - who were beaten 48-6 by Swinton - later this month.

"It was a tough one," Cornwall head coach Mike Abbott told the club website.

"We started well, it was really promising with everything we talked about in the week.

"We rattled them and then we just didn't kick on from that.

"They scored something like 18 points in nine minutes and it took the game from us and we sort of gave up then, which I really didn't like, and we'll fix that."